Mat



i Apr. 30, 1935- Gerald F. Cavanagh, Euclid, and Gerald F.

Duryee, Willoughby,

Ohio, assignors to The Ohio Rubber Company, Cleveland, Uliio, acorporation of Ohio Application .rune a 1193s, serian N0. @time 3Claims.

This invention relates to floor coverings and more particularly/tocoverings for the front and rear compartments of automobiles, and hasfor its principal object toprovide a floor covering, especiallyfor thepurpose mentioned, which is durable, neat and artistic in, appearance,and inexpensive to produce.

At the present time, automobile mats arev formedof rubber or of rubberand felt, the latter being attached by cementing or vulcanization to theunder side of the sheet or layer of rubber. These mats are not entirelysatisfactory because of their cold and unartistic appearance and:because they very readily show wear and are rendered unsightly by dirtand Water carried in on the shoes of the occupants of the vehicle, orotherwise.

In accordance with the present invention, we do away with the uppersheet of rubber and form the mat from felt, the upper portion of whichis preferably treated with a suitable waterproof adhesive or binder andis subsequently subjected to pressure in a mold which gives the topsurface the appearance of carpeting, preferably of tapestry carpet,while the lower part is maintained in its fluffy though feltedcondition.

The invention may be further briey summarized as consisting in a mathaving the structural characteristics hereinafter describedand i1-lustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein We have illustratedtwoforms of the invention.

mat made in accordance with one form of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional .view of a por-` In producing the matshown in Figs. l, 2, 3v

and 4, the upper layer I and the lowerelayer il are formed from separatelayers offelt attachedto each other. In producing the upper layer, weprefer to use felted animal hair or bers formed into sheetsand felted inany of the usual Ways. Next, the sheet is impregnated In the drawing,Fig. l is a top plan .view-of awith a waterproof binder of adhesivewhich gives it very-good wearing qualities and considerable tensilestrength, as well as a certain degree of compactness and body. For thispurpose, we may use any suitable binder or adhesive, such 5 as tapiocaadhesive, to which may or may not be added latex, in fact we may use theadhesive described in Letters Patent of the United States No. 1,574,896,or any other suitable adhesive which is waterproof and will not leavethe sheet l0 brittle after drying, as it is desirable that the matsformed in accordance With my invention be flexible.

After the impregnated sheet has been dried, it is cut tosubstantially'the shape desired in the l5 nished mat or covering, afterwhich it is placed in a mold, preferably a heated mold, and is subjectedto considerable pressure, this mold having on one side a design suchthat the top of the material isl given the appearance of carpet and`preferably of tapestry carpet. After being treated in a mold of thiskind wherein the mat is subjected to suicient pressure to produce thedesired results, it will be found that the top surface is fairly hardand substantially free from tufted fibers or loose ber ends. Infact theappearance is substantially identical with a woven tapestry carpet, andit retains that appearance and shape notwithstanding a great deal ofrough usage and Wear. This tapestry effect formed by the moldedprotuberances and depressions is indicated at l2 in all the differentfigures of the drawing.

We might add that in the same molding operation wherein the tapestrycarpet formation is given to the top surface of the mat there may 'beYmolded around the mat a suitable margin I3 which may have a surfaceconfiguration other than the `tapestry effect i2, and in this instancethe marginal portion I3 and the tapestry portion l2 are separated by abead it.

We might state further at this point that when the upper part or layerIl@ of the mat is subjected to heat and pressure in the mold, asexplained above, not only is the top surface of the mat given thedesired configuration or design, including the tapestry carpet effectwhich extends over the major portion of the top surface, but the layerl0 is also considerably com- 50 pacted or densied and its wearingqualities greatly increased.

Next, the mat is trimmed to the desired size and the necessary holes arepunched in it to accommodate the steering column, pedals, cables,

Vmethod of manufacture.

or other automobile parts which extend through the mat.

To the under side of this treated mat we prefer to apply a layer II ofloose felt, such as animal hair felt or jute felt, or a mixture thereof.'Ihat is to say, we may use for this purpose any of the commercial formsof felt which may or may not be needled to a layer of burlap, paper, orthe like, to give it the desired tensile strength for handling. Thisloose felt of animal hair or vegetable fibers, or both, may be attachedto the lower side of the treated felt I0 by cementing or in any otherdesired manner. The loose felt may be extended to the edge of the upperlayer, or it may extend back from the margin, as shown in Fig. 1, as maybe desired. It will be observed that the mat herein shown is providedwith numerous openings Il to receive the steering column, pedals,cables, and the like, and from around these openings or part of them theloose felt may extend back a suitable distance so that it will not showthrough the openings.

The top layer 10, as shown in Fig. 2, has near its lower surface a,layer of burlap I5 to which the felt may be needled in the usual way,and as indicated in this gure,vthe lower layer II has near its topsurface a similar strip of burlap I6, it being understood that thestrips of burlap are generally provided to give the felted fabricsufficient tensile strength to prevent its being pulled apart inhandling. However, the strip of burlap or equivalent material may beomitted from either or both layers, depending somewhat upon the kind offelt used and its^ top layer of treated felt is designated Ia and thelower layer of untreated felt attached to the lower side of the upperlayer is designated IIa, the burlap strips have been omitted from thefelt used in producing both the upper and the lower layers, butotherwise the mat is the same as that shown in Fig. 2.

As stated above, the felt composing the lower layer may be extended backfrom the margin of the upper layer (as shown in Figs. 2 and 3), or itmay be extended out to or substantially to the edge of the upper layer.In Fig'. 4 we have shown the lower layer of felt, here designated IIb,extended out to the margin of the upper layer here designated Ib, itbeing understood, of course, that the mats shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4have the `same characteristics in that the upper layer is formed of feltimpregnated with a binder and compressed in a mold', while the lowerlayer is also formed of felt, and is cemented or otherwise secured tothe upper layer, but in all instances, the fibers of the lower layer offelt are loose or fluffy as compared with those of the upper layer. Ifthe felt of the lower layer is extended to or substantially to themargin of the upper layer.. the marginal portion of the lower layer maybe treated with a suitable binder, such as latex, to prevent fraying atthe edges of the mat or it may be compacted or it may be both treatedwith a binder and compacted. This is indicated at II c in Fig. 4.Likewise, instead of extending the loose felt of the lower layer backfrom the openings I1 or part of them, it may be brought up to the edgesof the openings .in which event the portions around the OpenlngS may betreated 'with latex or other suitable binder or compacted or bothtreated.

311th a binder and compacted to prevent fray- In Fig. 3, where theA InFigs. 5, 6 and 7, we have shown a mat which has a top portion IIld withall of the characteristics of the mats shown in Figs. 1 to 4 and a lowerportion ltd having the loose felt characteristics of the lower layer ofthe mats of Figs. 1 to 4, but the mat is produced in a somewhatdifferent manner, and, in fact, from a single layer of felt. -In theproduction of this mat, we employ felt which initially is preferably thesame material that is used in forming the upper layer of the mat of Fig.1, i. e. preferably formed of animal hair, but which is of about twicethe thickness thereof, and, additionally, in forming this relativelythick felt, there is preferably provided at about the middle thereof astrip of burlap, paper, or other material I8 to which the felt may beneedled or otherwise attached in any of the usual ways. This felt isproduced in strips and is then subjected to a suitable waterproofadhesive, Asuch as is used in making the upper layer of the mats ofFigs. 1 to 4, the adhesive being applied to one side only of the strip,as is usually the case also in formingthe strip used in making the upperlayer of the mats of Figs. 1 to 4. In this instance, however, i. e.,with the burlap or equivalent material in the center of the strip, theadhesive does not penetrate beyond the same so that after the strip thustreated is dried, one side or stratum will have considerable bodyimparted to it by reason of the adhesive, while the other side of thefelt will be loose or in substantially the same condition as prior tothe adhesive applying treatment.

Next, this strip is cut substantially into mat size and is placed in aheated mold and subjected to pressure to compact the upper portion ofthe mat and to impart to it a top surface having the appearance ofcarpet, such as tapestry carpet, as before.

Then the mat is removed from the mold, is cut to size, and the holes I1for the steering column, pedals, etc., are punched therein.

If desired, the marginal portion of the mat and the portions around partor all of the openings referred to may be subjected to greater pressurethan the remainder of the mat so as to compact the fibers of the lowerlayer and thus providearound these openings and along the margin of themat, portions having4 less thickness than the remainder of the mat 4soas to reduce the likelihood of fraying. In this last operation, theupper surface I9 of the margin of the mat may be given any desireddesign or configuration which may be smooth relative to the part insidethe margin which is given the tapestry carpet effect, or these portionsmay be treated with latex or other suitable binder with or without thepressure or compacting step.

Mats produced altogether of felt, except for the waterproof adhesive inwhat becomes the upper part of the' mat, and made in accordance with themethods explained above, answer the requirements for automobile use veryeffectively and have the advantages and characteristics stated in theobjects of the invention. While these mats are preferably employed asfloor coverings for automobiles, they may be used for other purposesalso.

Changes may be made in the form, shape, and construction of the matswithout departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in theappended claims.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. A floor mat for automobiles or the like comprising a layer of felthaving the upper portion thereof treated with a binding material and thelower portion thereof untreated, said lower portion being relativelyloosely felted to provide the mat with a cushioning backing and saidtreated upper portion being relatively densely compacted to provideaitread surface.

2. A oor covering for automobiles and the like comprising a layer-offelt having an intermediate reinforcing sheet therein, the portion ofthe layer below the reinforcing sheet being relativelyloosely felted toform a cushioning backing and the portion of the layer above the sheetbeing treated with a binding material and be- -ing relativelycompactedto provide a tread surface.

3. A floor mat for automobiles or the like coniprising connected upperand lower layers of felt provided respectively with a reinforcing sheetat or adjacent their contiguous surfaces, said lower layer beingrelatively loosely felted to provide a. cushioning backing and saidupper layer being treated with a binding materialand `being relativelydensely. compacted to provide a.l 10

tread surface. J y

GERALD F. CAVANAGH. GERALD F. DURYEE.

